I invite you to my Salon, a cyberworld version of European and Asian gatherings in centuries past, where artists and intellectuals met in the home of an encouraging and inspiring host. It is my good fortune to be acquainted with many fascinating people, whom I will be pleased to introduce to the reader for your education and entertainment.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

All Hail The True Crime King

- Gary C. King!

Gary C. King is one of the world's foremost true crime writers and serial killers expert, a reputation he has earned over the last 33 years with the publication of more than 500 articles in true crime magazines in the United States, Canada, and England.King's many television appearances include Entertainment Tonight, Larry King Live, E!, BBC, Court TV, Inside Edition. I could go on but let's talk to man himself.

Madame Perry: Welcome to Madame Perry’s Salon, Gary,
it’s an honor to have you here. Please make yourself comfortable. My
first introduction to true crime books was the reigning queen of the genre –
Ann Rule. Let me share a quote from your website.

”King took over Ann Rule’s
job as Pacific Northwest stringer for True
Detective, Official Detective, Inside Detective, Front Page Detective, and Master
Detective magazines, writing hundreds of nonfiction articles under various
names until those magazines ceased publication in the mid-1990s.”

Did you personally know or
work with Rule?

Gary C King

Gary C. King: I do
know Ann. I’ve met her several times at conferences. However, I’ve never worked
with her, and have never wanted to work with her. Also, I cannot and do not
endorse her work because I do not care for it. It’s for those reasons, among
others, that I have never asked her for a blurb and would turn down one from
her if ever offered. After her days at True Detective ended, she tended to go
off in a direction that I find difficult to support. Now that I’ve gotten older,
however, there are several things I do not concern myself about: death and
dying, book sales, and Ann Rule! Some true crime authors seem to want to emulate
other true crime writers which is a mistake, in my opinion, and many have
certainly had their introduction to the genre via Ann’s books. A true crime
writer needs to find his or her own voice, and his or her own style. I try to
avoid most true crime writers as most have only self-serving interests and will
do just about anything to further their own careers, including breaking trusts
with other writers. A well-known true crime writer who also writes in the Young
Adult and fiction genres recently broke trust with me on Facebook, shortly after
DEAD OF NIGHT was released.As a result
I’ve had to reassess the importance, or perhaps lack thereof, of being friends
with those in the business!

MP: I’ve
read several of your books, Gary,
and I’d like to ask you about some of them. How do you choose to write about a
particular crime or killer?

GCK: Yes,
I know, Jennifer, lol, which I do sincerely appreciate. It’s always great to
connect with readers who like and appreciate one’s work. As for picking a
particular crime or criminal, I always try to choose crimes and/or criminals to
write about simply by picking those that interest me personally. If a case or a
killer does not interest me on some personal level, I simply do not write
about. That’s not to say that I’ve never written about a crime or criminal that
hasn’t interested me—I have, thanks to editors and their poor choices. When an
editor has picked cases for me, that interest at a personal level is missing
and it often shows in the finished product and reader acceptance. Editors think
they know everything, but I can say with all honesty and sincerity that they do
not. Sometimes, more often than not, the author knows best. I tend to prefer
writing about serial killers because, frankly, they are more interesting than a
typical murder, though there are always exceptions.

MP: Approximately
how much time is spent from deciding to write about a specific story,
researching it, and the finish line?

GCK:
Usually I spend anywhere from six months to a year researching and writing
about a case. That was the typical time spent when writing under contract for a
traditional publisher. Now that I’ve gone indie there’s no need to rush because
there are no deadlines to meet. I expect that I will be taking longer to finish
projects in the future because there is no longer any need to rush.

MP: Are
some stories more difficult than others? I’m thinking ofAngels Of Death, about 13-year-old Derek King and his 12-year-old
brother Alex King who were arrested after their father, Terry King, was
bludgeoned to death as he slept. The boys certainly had a less than ideal
childhood being abandoned by a drug addict mother and moved around to various
foster homes. Yet I got the sense that Terry was trying to keep his boys with
him and out of trouble. How does it feel to examine a case of coldblooded
killers who are still just children?

GCK: Cases
involving children, whether they are the murder victims or the killers, are
always the most difficult to research and write about due to the emotional
aspects involved. Terry King was not an ideal parent, but based on the
information I found he was trying to raise his boys as best he could as a
low-income single parent. I believe he protected his boys, but they saw things
differently, possibly due to outside influences such as Chavez and drug
experimentation at such an early age. They saw Terry King as being unreasonably
strict, but that was clearly not the case. Those boys came and went as they
pleased. In spite of Terry King’s shortcomings, many of which were through no
fault of his own, he did not deserve to be brutally beaten to death by his sons
and set afire afterward in an effort to cover up the crime. Those two boys
seemed incorrigible to me, and had turned into monsters by the time they killed
their father. You can read more about this case and the boys after their release from prison on my blog.

MP: A
different situation involving children, and one that the country followed on
the news as people kept a lookout for them, was recounted in Stolen In The Night. The relatives and
friends of young Shasta Groene and her brother Dylan were thrust into an unthinkable
nightmare when their family was murdered and the two children were missing.
Shasta was rescued when she was recognized in public and sexual psychopath
Joseph Edward Duncan III was arrested, charged and sentenced to death. During
your research did you find many situations in Duncan’s history that should have alerted
people to the kind of monster he was? Were there things people should have
noticed that, had the proper authorities been notified, could have saved this
family from such tragedy and heartbreak?

GCK: Like
many pedophiles, Duncan
managed to slip through the cracks of a system that was designed to keep
monsters like him out of circulation. His earlier crimes, such as those in Tacoma, Washington,
should have been ample warning that he was a danger to children. Sometimes,
even with the best efforts of law enforcement, the system fails. It failed with
Westley Allan Dodd, subject of my book DRIVEN TO KILL and who I interviewed at
length before his execution, and it failed with Duncan. As with Dodd, there were several
instances in which Duncan
should have been kept behind bars but was not. I still have problems with why
more information could not have been developed years earlier when the Martinez child was killed in Riverside County, California.
They had a description of the man, as well as a description of the car he was
driving. Perhaps the descriptions were inadequate to bring about identification
and arrest, but one can’t help but wonder if the ball may have been dropped
somewhere along the way. At least we can now be reasonably assured that Duncan will never hurt
another child. No family should ever have to endure the tragic consequences
that the Groene family, and other families like them, have gone through.

MP:MURDER IN HOLLYWOOD is about the killing of BonnyLee Bakley, wife of actor Robert Blake with whom she had a child. There are
people who have followed Blake since he was a young actor and have all manner
of speculations about him and his life. I was surprised at the complicated back
story on Bakley. Gary, was her background,
failed ambition and career as a con and extortionist fairly well known among Hollywood insiders?

GCK: MURDER
IN HOLLYWOOD is a book that my editor at St. Martin’s Press chose for me to
write about, and it was one chosen by an editor that I actually enjoyed doing
despite the fact that the publisher only gave me 30 days to write the book. The
publisher helped with the research, and I worked day and night to complete the
manuscript. The book was published before Blake’s trial, in which he was
acquitted. Though Blake himself was an interesting subject, even without a
murder investigation, it was Bakley’s activities or antics that really carried
the story. Due to the time limitations involved in writing the book, it was
clear to me that a number of people in Hollywood
knew about her but boiled the question down to just how much people may have
known about her. Bakley’s scam victims knew what she was to be sure, but how
much of what she was doing that may have filtered out to the so-called insiders
may never be known.

MP: A very
sad story of another type was that of Yale graduate Kathryn Ann Martini, a
young beautiful woman with a bright career ahead in banking. Smart, focused and

hardworking, it seems her mistake was falling in love with and marrying Michael
David Lissy. Murder In Room 305
details the foul plan of this sleazy, coke-addicted miscreant who planned the
violent death of his bride of only a year in order to collect the hefty life
insurance policy he’d taken out on her. Did you talk to many of Kathryn Ann
Martini’s family and friends? So many people are affected deeply for life after
a tragedy like this, aren’t they?

GCK: I
talked to some of Kathryn’s family and friends, but most of the information
came out of public files. Her family was deeply affected by her murder,
especially her parents. One of her sisters contacted me after the book’s
publication, and related some of their feelings to me. In respect of their
privacy and since the information was not contained in the book, I feel I
should keep those revelations private. David Wilson, the killer, was paroled in
the late 1990s. Lissy, I’ve heard, was paroled in April of this year. Both of
those paroles must have added to the hurt and pain experienced by Kathryn’s
family.

MP:You already know that every time I start one of your books I want to read the whole story at once! That’s when I send
you tweets saying once again you kept me up all night, and your reply is
usually along the lines of “It’s my job!”

Thank you for the excellent
research and writing in your books as well as the sensitivity to the loved ones
on all sides of the stories who carry the grief and pain for a lifetime. When I
first interviewed true crime authors, there were people who accused me of
glorifying or sensationalizing crime. So I always add the reasons I read and
share the books.

Yes, I’m fascinated by the
unpredictability of human behavior, to put it very simply. However, I don’t
believe I’ve ever read an account of true crime where there weren’t several
hints, red flags and outright warnings of someone’s potential for violence
maybe for years before a crime occurs. And for whatever reason no information
was shared or action taken which could have prevented it.

So I repeat the simple words
that if you see something, say something. And if you see or know something but
don’t want to get involved – too late, you’re already involved and have a
responsibility.

I wish you much continued
success in your career, Gary,
and hope you’ll return soon.

GCK:
Thanks, Jennifer. I’ll be happy to return here anytime!MP: Gary C. King's website keeps readers up to date on his books plus videos, podcasts, blog posts, and a page of victims' resources. Follow him on Twitter and 'Like' him FaceBook. He likes communicating with his readers so leave a comment here. Like most of our guests he'll probably reply.Buy his books! Oh, and don't forget to keep your flashlight by the bed.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Readers, it would take an entire blog post to list the awards, affiliations, and celebrity clients and collaborators of this guest. I'll just have a little talk with him, then you can visit his website. Trust me, you'll do that.

Madame
Perry: Hello, Joey, and welcome to Madame Perry’s Salon. Please make yourself
comfortable. Joey, I had heard people rave about
your mad talent as a musician for many years. Actually our mutual friend,
musician, songwriter and vocalist Sue G. Wilkinson was the first person to tell
me about you. When did you begin to play music, and on what instrument?

Joey Stuckey: Sue
is amazing and a true one of a kind talent, we have a lot of respect for each
other and I am honored she brought me to your attention.

I
first took piano around seven years old, but, only took for six months. As a kid I
had a lot of health problems, the result of a brain tumor, and just wasn't ready
to give of myself to make music. I was more interested in feeling
better and doing kid stuff. My Mom also tried to give me guitar lessons at
around five years old from a local college professor; that lasted one lesson,
again, I just wasn't ready and again, I had to overcome so many health related
obstacles. At that age I had yet to understand the power of music.

Joey Stuckey

My Mom was convinced that
I was a musician. My parents played non professionally, by that I mean it wasn't their
profession, just something they loved to do when the opportunity presented. My
Dad believed that when I was ready to play, if I ever was, she wouldn't
have to make me practice. They were both right!

My
first real foray into the world of music was about the age of fifteen as the
sound tech for a local planetarium. I had started recording and fooling around
with recording gear at thirteen and found I had an affinity for it.
Many of my co-workers, who were about eighteen and had bands,
asked if I would record them. Once I heard the power of original, live music it was my epiphany! Music was my destiny.

James Brown with Joey Stuckey

My career as a recording
engineer and producer was born, and at seventeen I started
taking guitar lessons from guitarist and teacher Terry Cantwell.

Terry
had never taught a blind person before--oh, did I mention I am blind? Well that
was another result of the brain tumor. Anyway, Terry said he would and could
teach me and that he would find a way to impart the information I needed to be
a musician. He did and he is truly one of the people I love best in this world
and part of my family. He even went so far as to draw in a box of sand the
musical staff and notes so I would have an understanding of what they looked
like.

So
that is how it all started on the guitar. I also found over the years that I
was handy on bass and vocals and had an adequate amount of talent on keys and
percussion.

In
most of the full productions I produce in my studio these days, I often play
all instruments for my clients.

MP:
You’ve had quite a career playing and producing music. What are the achievements
of which you are most proud?

JS: Hmmm,
that is a hard one. I have had so many wonderful opportunities and experiences,
but, I'll tell you a few quick things that over the last few years have meant a
lot. First, I love to teach and take true pleasure in feeling like I am
assisting others reach their potential. So teaching at MercerUniversity
where I also attended college is a real highlight. I also travel a lot and do
guest lectures--this year I had an amazing time in Hattiesburg,
Mississippi
with the students and faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi.

I
have also been blessed to work with two outstanding young ladies that are
starting their musical careers at the age of sixteen and are amazing talents. I am
proud to be their co-writer, producer, engineer and have played all the
instruments on their releases, you should for sure check them out, in the genre
of country Savannah Alday and in the genre of pop Katherine Daniel.

Finally,
my last album Mixture which is my first full jazz release, charted
at number nine on the CMJ top 40 Jazz charts for North
America and got a lot of great reviews in fusion magazines across
the globe.

My
friend and co-writer on the project Tom Rule who performed piano/keys on the
album and is a long time band member in the Joey Stuckey band was a big reason
this record was so successful and I can't thank him enough. We also had two
masters of percussion on the record, Marcus Reddick and another long time Joey
Stuckey band member and ARC recording artist Miguel Castro, again, the record
wouldn't be the same without them.

JS with Trisha Yearwood and
his father, Talmadge Stuckey

MP:
Would you tell me a story about a situation or gig that turned out quite
differently –
for good or bad –
than you expected?

JS:Well,
this is one of my favorite stories!

I
was playing in my mid twenties at a bar in Milledgeville, GA.
This was a rock and blues version of the Joey Stuckey Band which brings a new
definition to the word eclectic. Anyway, we were performing the Steve MillerBand song The Joker. I love this song and the lyrics that say
"I really love your peaches want to shake your tree" I always smile a
lot when singing this line, it just fits my sense of humor. So, being blind is
always an adventure and on this night while singing this song and smiling like
I do, I attracted the attention of a young lady that wanted to take someone
home with her that night. She thought I was smiling at her. Of course, I
wasn't, I had no idea she was there, I was just singing. She thought I was
flirting with her and started dirty dancing for me as part of her mating
ritual. After that song, she thought I started ignoring her. I of
course wasn't--again, I had no idea she was there. Four or five songs later we
took a break and then came the smackdown! She stormed up to me and asked me who the hell I thought I was. I
was shocked.

The Breakdown

Me:What are you talking about?Solid Gold Dancer:You started
flirting with me and then after I danced for you you decided I wasn't good
enough and just started ignoring me!Me: I am blind, I didn't see
you.Dancing Queen: Whatever!My friends: No,
he really is blind.Well, after telling me some more of how little she
thought about me she stormed off and ended up finding someone else. Likely a more appreciative candidate. This story exemplifies how no
one ever thinks of me as blind and some people never believe it. We should recognize our limitations so that we are able to
compensate for them, yet not define ourselves in terms of
those limitations. Just as I am more than a musician, I am also more then a
blind man, though both things are a part of me and should be acknowledged.

MP:
You’ve added another career as a teacher. I believe when I saw you last you had
a class of your students from Mercer University coming into
your studio for final exams. How do you like teaching?

Joey Stuckey and band perform

Give Five from Mixture

JS:I
love it! It is something you need to have a passion for or you can't do it
effectively as there are many frustrations that go with the job. Fortunately I love educating others about music and also enjoy the role of inspirational speaker about living a successful life and overcoming adversity. I teach at the college
level here in my hometown of Macon
and of course as I mentioned above, I travel the country teaching at
other colleges and have a cadre of private students that I love!

MP:
Give me your impressions of the younger group of musicians who are coming into
their own now with such a wide range of influences.

Joey with Omar Hakim

JS:For
sure the music biz has changed and of course many of the sounds have changed as
well, though I think for the most part they are reiterations of the past--like
the big-synth sounds of Lady Gaga, really just modern sounds of the late 70s
and early 80s. But, that being said, I love music of all genres and time
periods and am glad that there is so much talent in the biz still. I am most
especially proud of the talent here in Georgia! I just wish we had the same kind of
infrastructure that Los Angeles or Nashville
has to get that talent exposed to the world.

MP:
Tell us about your show Studio 41.

﻿﻿

Joey with Diana DeGarmo

JS: If you are fortunate enough to get a slot performing on a local TV station, the
audio can be quite challenging. TV studios, at least at the local level
aren't usually set up for musical performances. I was tired of not sounding
like I knew I could when I performed on TV and I knew that I wasn't the only
person not having the sound they deserved. So instead of complaining, I decided
to do something about it.

I produce the show which is broadcast on the local NBC affiliate.I am set up
for music production and TV stations typically aren't, so it just made sense to tape it in my studio.
However, I don't try to get a recording studio sound, but keep it live sounding
so the audience knows what the band really sounds like with out a lot of studio
trickery.

Joey with Gregg Allman

It is important to me to support local/indie music from GA. I've been doing that in print, on the radio both web
and terrestrial and it was time to do it on TV.

We
have wonderfully talented folk here in GA and I encourage folks to check out
the program via web if they don't live in our broadcast area. You can look for
episodes on YouTube and also on Shadow Sound Studio and at Studio 41 NBC.

﻿

Joey and Carole King

MP:
Let’s talk about your newest CD, Mixture, which has a permanent place in my
car. It has a pop jazz feel and yet I feel like I’m listening to a soundtrack
for a 70s or 80s television show with a private investigator and several
glamorous guest stars. So, yeah, what was the inspiration for the songs and are
you a fan of vintage TV actions shows?

JS:I
love TV, though I am blind. So many TV shows - Magnum PIand Night Courtjust to name two - have great theme music. And who doesn't
like those sexy guest stars, or in my case starlets.

There
was no conscious effort to bring that kind of sound forth, but, I care about
good melodies. As a 70s baby my musical influences really began in the 80s. Still, the music is really about
trying to find melodies that folks could hum along with or get hooked on.

﻿﻿

Joey with Michael Stipe

MP:
What’s next for you, Joey, musically and personally?

JS:Fame,
fortune and then retirement! Seriously though, I am happy as long as I can continue doing just what I do now.I am always on the
look out for the next adventure life has in store. One thing is for sure however, I will continue with music and the
recording sciences in some way. My intention is to serve as a source of inspiration and assistance for others and never let my light go out.

MP:
Thank you for being here at Madame Perry’s Salon. Please visit again.

JS:Thanks
so much for having me, it is a true pleasure to chat with you any time!

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Settle in, folks, this is going to be a ride with a lots of twists and turns with this fascinating guest. Helen Ginger is the author of five books: three non-fiction, a short story anthology and a contemporary fiction, Angel Sometimes which won the 2013 USA Best Book Award For Fiction. She maintains an informational and interactive blog for writers and a weekly e-newsletter that has been going out to subscribers around the globe for thirteen years. She is an owner-partner and Women’s Marketing Director for Legends In Our Own Minds®, which specializes in creative networking opportunities for companies and groups.

And how could I not be enchanted with someone whose blog is titled Straight From Hel!

Helen Ginger: I am so glad to be here, too. Thank you for
inviting me.

MP: It’s remarkable to find that after following your blog and
being twitter pals for years, plus reading about you and your work, I’m still
astounded at all that you do. Among the list is blogging, ghostwriting, public
speaking, author, editor, and you teach most every skill that you do. How many
times a day are you asked how you do it all?

HG: Rarely does anyone
ask me how I do it all. I think authors are all busy every day. If we're not
writing, we're promoting, or connecting with readers or plotting out the next
book or the next book tour.

MP: I love your book Angel Sometimes. Angel was
taken 800 miles from her home in Oklahoma to
South Padre Island, Texas and abandoned with only $50 just before her
thirteenth birthday. Years later she hitchhikes to Austin, Texas where
she makes a life and makes plans for revenge while working as a mermaid in a
restaurant/bar.

The mermaid part of
the story was a window into a world completely unknown to me, and quite
captivating. The training, extraordinary tricks like eating underwater, special
contact lenses and even getting in costume pull the reader in to a world as
strange to us as being homeless was to Angel. I learned you were also a
mermaid. Please tell us about it. How did you start, what were some of the best
– and not so fun – parts?

HG: I gave Angel the
job of swimming as a mermaid because I knew she could do it. Although I swam
while I was in college, you don't have to have a degree to be a mermaid. You
just have to not be scared. When I wrote Angel
Sometimes, I gave her the job that I knew the most about and I knew she
could do. She wears special contacts. I did not. The mermaids at AquarenaSprings wore goggles. We took them off during the picnic.

When I started
college, I needed a job to help pay for books, classes, etc. I worked as an
assistant for one of my instructors. Then I went and applied to swim at
Aquarena Springs and got the job. You go through quite a bit of training, such
as synchronized swimming, and eating and drinking underwater. We mostly ate
celery, strings removed (nothing pretty about celery strings caught in your
teeth) and drank punch (not carbonated).

To tell you the truth,
I can't think of anything that wasn't fun about the job. Well, there was one
time it wasn't fun. The swimmers came in to work and were told that a huge wall
of water would be coming in that day (The river that Aquarena was on was fed by
hundreds of springs and where that water comes from had been having a flood of
rain.) So we all got together to move what we could to high ground and anchor
down what couldn't be moved. The Ralphs were moved. (If you were a visitor to
Aquarena you probably thought there was only one Ralph, there were several.
Unlike the swimmers, the Ralphs could only swim one show, then they had time to
recover before doing another show.) So…after all that, we were told to get in
the water and swim the show. The water was so murky that we could hold a hand
up in front of our face and not see it. We had to move the synchronized
swimming close up to the window of the submarine. For picnic, we held onto the
screws on the submarine while we ate. After the show was over, we, as usual,
went out on the volcano to wave goodbye to the visitors. One man came out of
the sub. ﻿﻿

Aquarena Postcard with Mermaid
and Author Helen Ginger (Lower Left)

MP: You’ve written three books in TSTC Publishing'sTechCareer
Series on Computer Gaming, Avionics, and Automotive Technicians. We likely can
see what differentiates these from your novels and short stories, are there
similarities in writing techniques or skills needed?

HG: Usually, for both
fiction and nonfiction, you have to do research. For my non-fiction writing, I
had to do a ton of research on each topic, including interviews with
instructors or people in the business, finding as many of the schools in the US
that teach that degrees, finding what classes are needed to get that degree,
and more. I had a three month turnaround time for each book. I did quite a bit
of traveling and spent hours transcribing what I had recorded. For fiction, you
mostly make it up. Angel Sometimes
was based on my experience to a certain extent. But my second fiction book, Dismembering the Past, is not based on
me or my experience. One thing about Angel is that I know her more deeply than
any other character. I started writing her years before the book came out. I
wrote her at twelve years old. Around that time, I received a scholarship to
the VermontStudioCenter
and spent a month rewriting her as a young adult. I literally felt as though
she was talking in my head.

MP: I learned from your website that you are owner/partner and
the Women’s Marketing Director for Legends In Our Own Minds®. Could you tell
us what this is and what sparked its creation?

HG: Legends is a
company my husband started. We do hunting, fishing and golfing expeditions. Mostly,
what I do is maintain the website.

MP: Your newest book is Dismembering The Past.
Dare I ask what it’s about? Just looking ahead to October when I plan to
feature a suspense, thriller, or horror novel every day.

HG: Here's the back
cover blurb: Private Investigator, Matti McAllister, is searching for a missing
67 year-old woman who got on her bicycle and disappeared at the same time The
Texas Butcher came to Mesquite Cove. The Texas Butcher has already killed
twelve women around the state, dismembering them and displaying the body
pieces. While hiding among the thousands of visitors in town for the Texas
Teacup Sailboat Festival, he'll add three more -- unless the FBI and Matti can
stop him.

If he doesn't kill her
first.

MP: You offer so much information on your blog about
technique, events, resources and advice for writers. How can writers retain
your services as an editor or advisor on their work?

HG: I’m doing very
little editing now. I have one or two returning writers whom I edit. My focus
at the moment is on writing. I'm open to talking with other writers, though.
Sometimes if you're stuck at a point in your book, it helps to just talk it
out.

MP: I know I spoke of this earlier, Helen, but just reading
your website makes me feel like a total slacker. You definitely make the most
of your talents! Thank you for spending so much time with us here. I hope
you’ll return.

HG:Thank you for
hosting me! If anyone has a question, I'll try to answer.MP: Naturally a person as busy as Helen has all the good social media so we can visit her website, follow her on Twitter, read her blog Straight From Hel, and learn more about her books, newsletters, coaching, and her long time vices. I have an Amazon link on the upper left corner of this site so you can order Angel Sometimes, or go straight to Helen's Amazon author page.